Pages

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Bedtime Story

My husband and I have been struggling with when we should begin to incorporate a story into our son's bedtime routine. We, of course, want him to have a rich tradition of a bedtime story, but at his young age (almost 4 months old) it seems a bit early. We read aloud to him at other times, but just not usually right before he goes to bed for the night. In his book, The Read Aloud Handbook, author Jim Trelease encourages reading aloud to children from day one. While another book, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg, encourages reading aloud to children, but discourages a bedtime story until your baby is 6 months old. At that age she feels babies are better able to focus and sit up. Right now we seem to be leaning toward incorporating reading into his daytime routine and not yet into his bedtime routine. I'm not sure exactly when we'll change this, maybe at 6 months, maybe another time, but I can't wait until it can be part of my son's bedtime routine.